NEAFC 31st Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF I~IRE CHIEFS
hereby decree that this Honorary Whooper-ship shall remain in force for all eterr.
nity, including that day when we shall all meet on. this bright and shining shore~i.
which, by any other name, will still resemble New Hampshire more than any
other land." (Applause.)
TOASTMASTER MOLLOY: Thank you, Governor. You, n.o doubt, have seen our
next speaker on television, in "Starring the Editors." He is outstanding in the editorial
field, and ha,s been recently awarded the Howe Award for distinguished writing of
public significance,
May I now present the Editor-in-Chief of the Boston Post, John H. GriKin.
(applause.)
I am very happy to be here tonight, and I was. pleased that .Chief Molloy managed
to get my title in as Editor-in-Chief. For, you know, I wanted: to be on a parity with
all the Chiefs present here tonight.
However, I want to talk about a serious subject here this evening. It is a subject
with which my remarks may not find favor with many of you perhaps. It is a very hot
subject, and a controversial, thing.
I feel fairly comfortable about it, though, because I have a strong belief, and I
also have the opportunity right now of having the floor, and it is not good form for
anybody to stand up and dispute the speaker[
I want to talk about investigations. I want to talk, particularly, about investigations
having to do with schools and colleges. And that, of course, is a subject on which
there is a great variety of opinion and greater bitterness in- that variety, too.
In order to introduce this matter to you, I want to read a letter which recently
appeared~ in a prominent newspaper, signed by a woman whose writing very obviously
indicated that she was a woman of some learning and some ability to handle the English
language. She said:
"Fears of Communist infilt.ration into our schools are unfounded. I think
we can trust the great majority of our teachers. Should there be a Communist or
two among them, he or she would be foolhardy, indeed, in the present state of
public opinion, to make the slightest move in the direction of indoctrination. The
real danger, I consider to be in the direction of stifling initiative andl an honest
expression of opinion in our schools. Our teachers become afraid to speak their
minds, fearful that some careless word may be misinterpreted. Then, and then
indeed, our American. way of life is endangered from within."
That was the letter of an undoubtedly sincere and learned woman.
Just about that time, the Superintendent of the Schools of New York City, William
Jensen, .who is heldl in high regard by all educators everywhere, made a report that 81
teachers had been fired from the public school system, because they were Communists
and were teaching Communism.
He ,said that the number of :Communists among New York’s 37,000 teachers is
small, but they exert an influence far beyond their number. He further said:
"The situation is not cleared up in New York. Furthermore, the pro:blem is
not Confined to New York City. School authorities throughout the nation are
increasingly concerned about Red infiltrations."
He even praised the Senate Investigating Cgmmittees , particularly the Internal
Security Committee, and he said that the Communists were talking nonsense when
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